Egg packing material



Patented July 10, 1951 EGG PACKING MATERIAL Torrs l-I.V Alfreds, Park Ridge, Ill., assignor to Mapes Consolidated Manufacturing Company, Griilith, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application December 7, 1946, Serial No. 714,717 v Claims. l

This invention relates to improvements in egg packing material and it consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. The invention is more especially concerned with a packing material for use in connection with at least opposite ends or sides of at leastfone of the cellular llers and associated pad in a packed egg case to limit the bending of the tips of certain of the strips forming said filler and the thereafter occurring breakage of eggs in the cells of the filler due to the longitudinal shifting movement of the llers during transport or shipment of the packed case.

Breakage of eggs during the shipment of a standard pack egg case, occurs generally to the greatest extent in the eggs in the upper layers thereof. In the starting and stopping of the transport vehicle, the uppermost layers of the column of pads and cellular llers in the compartments of the case shift longitudinally to such an extent that the tips of the strips of the filler, in the direction of the shifting or movement, impact against the solid walls of the case compartment and bend or collapse. After the collapse of these tips, the end strips of the filler, especially in the uppermost layer, impact against said walls with such force as to cause a breakage of the eggs in said layers.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide packing material adapted to be inserted into position between two of the solid walls of the case and the adjacent end strips of the cellular ller in the desiredlayers of packed eggs, to limit the bending and prevent subsequent collapse of the tips projecting outwardly from said adjacent end strips toward said walls and thereby prevent said end strips from engaging or contacting said walls.

A further object of the invention is to provide material of this kind which is so constructed as not only to limit the bending of the strip tips, but also provide yielding portions against which the end strips may engage with a cushioning action to avoid the solid stop'eiect heretofore present and which caused much of the egg breakage.

Another object of the invention is to provide material which is separate from any of the pads used in packing the eggs, which maybe readily positioned in the case and which is eilfcient in action in preventing the breakage of eggs in the egg case.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide material of this kind which is so constructed as to form on one side thereof, strip tip receiving sinuous passages or channels, the sides of which frictionally grip the Aassociated iiller strip tip and slightly distort it from end to end and thereby stiifen the same, better to withstand forces tending to bend and collapse the tip.

The above mentioned objects of the invention, as well as others, togetherA with the advantages thereof, will more fully appear as the specication proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the upper portion of a compartment of an egg case and illustrates the improved material therein as employed between the opposite ends of the topmost llerv in said compartment andthe adjacent rigid walls of the case.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of parts appearing in the left hand side of Fig. 1 with parts of the improved material shoWn in longitudinal section.

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation,v on an enlarged scale, of a fragment of the improved material and more clearly shows the manner inV which the sides of the sinuous passages thereof frictionally grip the associated strip -tips from opposite sidesand longitudinally distorts and stiffens the same.

In general the improved packing material corn'- prises a body of a length and height approxi# mating those of the cellular ller member and the length also approximates that of the `side of the pad or flat member with which the improved material is used in a standard egg case pack. The improved material is employed, in at least one layer and at least two in each compartment of the case and is intended to be disposed between the egg case Wall and the adjacent filler.

The body of the material, which is of an elongated rectangular outline shape, is generally flat and on one side thereof are longitudinally sepa# rated, outwardly projecting hollow parts,v the sides of which in connection with strip-like parts of the body between them, dene sinuous passages or channels that extendtransversely of the body portion. The ends of said passages or channels are outwardly and are disposedin the same plane transversely of the body portion. Said passages are spaced apart to accord with the spacing of the strips of a standard cellular filler, and their sides so frictionally grip the tips from opposite sides thereof as to distort them from end to end. This action serves to stiffen them against bending due to the shiftingV movement of said egg containing iiller toward said end wall ofthe case.

y Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing', theirnproved material is in the form of an elongated rectangular strip preferably of pulp material that includes a flat body portion I0. Said body is of the length and height of the strips II of a conventional cellular filler member with which it is used in connection with a pad member I2 in the compartment of a standard egg case as defined by side walls I3-I3, a partition I4 and end wall I5, as best appears in Figs. 1 and 2. The pad member is hereinishown as having the egg seats I6 on one side thereof arranged to be disposed in the cells as formed by the intersecting strips I I of the filler. However, the improved material may be employed in connection with a seatless pad or flat, if so desired.

The body is formed, on one side, with a plurality of longitudinally separated hollow intermediate and end projections I1 and I8 respectively, the top and bottom ends of which stop short of the top and bottom edges of the body, to leave flat longitudinal margins I9, which at their ends join flat end margins 2U outwardly from the end projections I8. Each projection I1 includesx top and bottom `,walls 2I and side walls 22 respectively that extend outwardly from the body to converge toward an annular ridge 23 and to there merge into a concavedwall 24, the bottom of ,which is disposed in a planev between those of the body I and ridge 23 respectively, as best appears in Figs. 1 and 2. The margins of the side walls of said intermediate projection I1, as well as one of the side margins of the end projections I8,.are of a sinuous shape, as best appears in Fig. 3v so that sides of adjacent projections coact to-form sinuous passages that are each bottomed by a strip-like part 25 of the body. Opposite end parts of said passages, which are widened and as best appears in` Fig. 3, are disposed in the same plane transversely of the body and-therefore in the intended use of the material it makes no difference which longitudinal edge of the material is employed as the top edge or the bottom edge.

In-the use of the material described, and specically illustrated, after the topmost pad member I2 and the topmost ller member composed of the strips II have been placed in the compartment and the eggs 26 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. l) have been disposed in the seats I6 located in the cells formed by the intersecting strips II of the filler, the end portions or tips IIa in the longitudinal strips will project outwardly from the outermost strips of the ,transverse ones, as best appears in Figs. 1 and 2.

A piece' of the material is now grasped in each hand with either longitudinal margin directed downwardly, and with the projections I1 of one piece facingv those of the other piece. With said pieces held in the manner mentioned, they are moved downwardly for insertion into the space between the outer transverse strips of the filler and the end wall I5 and partition I4`of the case respectively. In this downward movement of said pieces of material, the flared ends of the passages formed by the parts 22--22 and 25 respectively, will line up with and will receive the top end of the associated filler tips IIa. and will direct them into said passages. In this movement of said pieces of material, those faces thereof, opposite the ones from which the hollow members I1 project, will be engaged each with a face of the partition and end wall respectively of the case. As these members approach their nal position, portions of the tips are flexed or distorted laterally by the side parts of the sinuous passagesbetween the hollow projections I1. By reason of this engagement, the tips Ila become slightly distorted from top to bottom and engage at points on opposite sides thereof with parts of said projections which frictionally grip the tips with enough force as to take up any looseness between said tips and said pieces of material. Thus, by reason of distorting said tips from top ,to bottom, while held between the side parts of adjacent projections, the tips are braced and stiiened against lateral bending and collapse. Also, the member I0 is held in position in the case against movement in any direction.

When said material is in its final position, as shown in Fig.y 1, the top edge thereof will be arranged substantially flush with the top edges of the case, as a whole, and the ridges 2'3 of said projections I1 will be disposed relatively close to those parts of the outermost strips of the filler adjacent said wall and partition respectively. Thus, should these strips flex outwardly, they will engage with a cushion-like stop against vsaid ridge portions of said projections.

In the drawings the materialis shown as inserted in only the upper layer of the.case.- Ordinarily, use in that layer is sufcient because if the upper layer, which in effect, is the top of a column, can be stabilized against shifting, the layers therebelow will be held in place. If desired, however, similar members may be used in all layers of the egg case.

Also, in the drawings the material is shown as being disposed between the end wall and the middle partition wall of the case. If only two pieces of material are to be used for a single layer, that is the best position, because eggs are most frequently shipped in freight cars. When placing the egg case in a freight car it is the standard practice to place them with the longitudinal axis of the case lengthwise of the car. Hence, forces generated by the starting and stopping of the freight car tend to shift the eggs and packing material either toward the end wall or middle partition wall. Hence, material placed as shown in the drawings serves best to prevent or minimize such movement.,

If desired, the material may be placed .along the side walls only of the'case, which would be suitable for shipment by truck, if it be assumed the cases are to be stacked with the longitudinal axis of the case transversely of the truck. Or, the material may be placed along all four walls, which define the compartment of the standard egg case, in which event the case is adapted to random stacking in `either a freight car, truck, or other conveyance. .v

If the members I0 are to be used-on all four sides of a compartment, itis preferable to make the overall length slightly less, so that they may be all alike and yet not interfere or overlap at the corners of the case. Of course, the spacing of the sinuous grooves will be maintained so that they will properly receive the tips of the fillers. The reduction in overall length will be obtained by reducing the length of that part ofthe ends of the member between the endmost tip receiving grooves and the end of the member. If desired, the end of the membenmay be on a line coincident with the straight line which defines the bottom of the projection I8 and the member I8 itself may be reduced slightly in size longitudinally of the member. Y With the material made as described, there is afforded a bracing action for` the strip tips against bending and collapse. There is also afforded areas against which the outermost transverse" strips of the ller engage with a cushioning action which eliminates the breakage of eggs.

While in describing the invention, I have referred in detail to the form, construction and arrangement of the parts thereof, the same is to be considered only in the illustrative sense so that I do not wish to -be limited thereto, except as may be specifically set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A packing material of the kind described comprising a strip like body flat on one side and formed at longitudinally spaced portions on the other side with outwardly projecting hollow parts, the outer sides of adjacent parts coacting to dene sinuous passages transversely of the body and terminating short of the longitudinal edges of the body.

2. A packing material of the kind described comprising a strip like body nat on one side and formed at longitudinally spaced portions on the other side with outward projecting hollow parts, the outer sides of adjacent parts coacting to define sinuous passages transversely of the body and terminating short of the longitudinal edges of the body, opposite ends of each passage having an outward flare.

3. A packing material of the kind described comprising a strip like body at on one side and formed at longitudinally spaced portions on the l other side with outwardly .projecting hollow parts, the outer sides of adjacent parts coacting to dene sinuous passages transversely of the body and terminating short of t-he longitudinal edges of the body, opposite ends of each passage having an outward are and being disposed in the same plane transversely of the body.

4. A packing material of the kind described comprising a strip like body at on one side and formed at longitudinally spaced portions on the other side with outwardly projecting parts each defining an ,annular hollow portion, the outer sides of adjacent parts coacting to denne sinuous passages transversely of the body and terminating short of the longitudinal edges of the body.

5. In combination with an egg case having pairs of opposite walls dening a compartment therein, a cellular ller n said compartment and composed of sets of right angularly extending interengaged strips, the ends of said strips forming tips, the extremities of which terminate adjacent said walls, a packing material disposed between the tips of the ller and the Walls of an opposite pair of Walls, each packing material including a body of a length and width approximating that of a filler strip and formed on one side for Hat engagement with an associated wall of the case and formed at the other side with outwardly projecting parts substantially engaging the adjacent strip of the ller, the sides of adjacent parts coacting to define sinuous passages transversely of the body and terminating short of the longitudinal edges thereof and each passage receiving a ller strip tip therein.

TORRIS H. ALFREDS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

